Dorothy M. Rathje's Obituary
Dorothy Mae Rathje of Phoenix, AZ, formerly of Clinton, IA, passed away on August 6, 2019, from complications of a stroke. She was 88.
Memorial service will be 11:00 am, Saturday October 19, 2019 at Zion Lutheran Church - Clinton. Visitation will be from 10:00 am until the service time at the church. Burial will be in the Clinton Lawn Cemetery. The Clinton Chapel Snell-Zornig Funeral Homes and Crematory is assisting the family with arrangements.
The daughter of the late Dr. F.E. Schoenbohm and Lillian (nee Hicks) Schoenbohm, Dorothy grew up in Elvira. After the family moved to Clinton, she graduated from Clinton High School. In 1946, barely 16 years old, she took the train by herself into Chicago to attend the Chicago Musical College. Concurrently, she became the church organist for her father’s church, Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church in Clinton, a position she held until she retired 50 years later.
In 1949 she met a sailor on a blind date. She and William Rathje were married on Easter Sunday in 1951, and welcomed their son Stuart William in 1959 and daughter Sandra Jane in 1961. While raising her family Dorothy was an accounting clerk at Lyons Pharmacy, president of the Clinton Junior Women’s Club and taught dozens of private piano and organ students. An inveterate bridge player she was also involved in sewing, crafts and ceramics, and in her later years was an avid collector of Heisey glass.
Dorothy was preceded in death by her parents and her brother Frederick Schoenbohm IV and sister-in-law Carol Schoenbohm of Blue Island, IL. She is survived by her husband Bill, son Stuart (Linda Packer) Rathje of Chicago, daughter Sandi Hansen of Phoenix, and grandchildren Brianna Hansen and Maxwell Hansen.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be sent to Zion Children's Music Ministry, 439 Third Avenue South, Clinton, IA 53732.
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